Self-cleaning slush pump valve



Aug. 23, 1932.

Filed Jan. 26, 1929 Patented Aug. 23, 1932 UNITED sraras ERNEST LLOYDnnsomaa, or 'wnrrrinn, CALIFORNIA ,snnr-cnnnivilve SLUSH EUMP'VALVEApplication filedJariuary 26, 1923;. Serial no. 335,202.

This invention relates to pumps, and particularly to pumps that are usedfor pumping water carrying sand or mud and popular- 1y called slushpumps.

operation any grit or sand which is caught between the valve disk andthe seat is ground up or moved ofi of the seat by the repeated closingof the valve. This valve is also known as a'self-cleaning valve byreason of the fact that such sand or grit lodging on the seat willeventually move off of the seat, as it cannot penetrate the face of thehardened seat or the seat face of the valveclosure. Heretofore it hasbeen customary to employ non-metallic packing for such a valve, but inpractice it is found that sand and small pebbles in the water beingpumped become forced into the packing and destroy it, which necessitatesthe frequent changing of the packing and the temporary shutting down ofthe pump while the packing is being renewed.

This invention may be regarded as an improvement on the slush pump valveof this type. The valve includes in itsconstruction a valve closure inthe form of a disk having guide wings that extend down into the valveopening through the seat and which operate asguides in the opening andclosing'movement of the valve. It has been found in practice that in theoperation of these valves the sand and grit in the waterbeing pumpedtends to produce erosion in the hardened valve'seat, and the object ofthis invention is to provide a valve of this type having'a constructionwhich will eliminate or prevent this erosion. V 7

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists of the novel parts or combination of parts, to bedescribed hereinafter, all of which contribute'to produce an eflicientself-cleaning slush pump valve. A preferred embodiment of the inventionis de- The invention relates particularly to the valves of such ascribed in the following specification, while the scope ofthe inventionis pointed outinthe V appended claims.

In the drawing: V V Figure 1 is a vertical section taken through a slushpump valve embodying'my invention. Figure 2 is a cross-section throughthe valve, taken about on the line 22 of Figure 1. 4 This section showsthe underside of the V valvedisk in bottom plan.

Referring more particularly to the parts in the drawing shown, 1represents a valve-. chestformed. in the pump casing 2. The water beingpumped passes through a valve opening 3 whichis formed through a pump fwall 4. The valve opening is formed in a removable ring 5, the upperportion of which projects into the valve chest, and is formed with twointersecting'conical seat faces 6 and 7 which form the valve seat: Thevalve closure is in the form of a" disk 8 the under face of whichisformed'with two conical seat V faces 9 and 10 which seat respectivelyon'seat faces? and f the'valve seat. The upper side of the disk isprovided with an upwardly adjacent to the cylindrical face which consti-I tutes the edge of the opening 3.

A coil spring 17 is provided, the upper end of which thrusts againstthe'under side of the valve bonnet and the lower end of which VV thrustsagainst the valve disk. This spring holds the valve on its seat untilthe pressure V AIISQS sufiiciently in the pump chamber to open the valveand, of course, operates to'return of the pump plunger.

Ithas been'found inthe practical use of valves of this type that theseat faces 6 of the valve to its seat on the recedingstroke 9 the valve.seat tend to'erode through the ac;

tion of the sandcarried in the water.

According to my invention, in order to prevent the erosion referred toabove, I provide each wingat its root, that is to say, at its point ofconnection to the disk 8, with a relatively sharp edge 18 which projectstoward the edge of the opening 3 and extends in the same generaldirection as the axis of the valve. I prefer also to form a-recess 19 onthe outer sideof the wing at this point,

that is to say, the edge718 commences at the point 20 (see Figure 1 andextends in an' upwardly and inwardly inclined or slightly curved line,as shown in Figure 1. The action of'the edge 18 and the recess 19 is toprevent the formation'of eddy currentsor swirls in the pumped liquidnear, the outer face of the. wing, and their-presence prevents ,to alarge extent the erosive effect of the sand on such a seat.

In the operation of thevalve, the guiding ofthe disk 8, by thewings iseffected through the contact of the faces 16 with the edgejof T theopening 3, but in other respects the valve faces 6 and"? intersect.forcible grinding of sand or pebbles between operates in the usual way.

It is customary to provide the under side of the valve disk 8 with anannular channel or groove 21, which islocated over the. edge 22 of thevalveseat where the conical seat This prevents the the valve and theseat on the edge 22 and operatesto preserve this edge intact, What Iclaim is: v 1. In aslush valve for a slush pump for pumping watercarrying mud and sand, the combination ofa member having a valve openingwith an annular hardened seat at the Opening, and a valve closure in theform of a disk having a face to come upon the. seat,

said valve closure havinga plurality of guide wings extending from theface of the disk 'into the said opening, each guide wing'having a guideface disposed toward the end. of

' the wing for engaging the edge ofthe opening to guide the valve disk,and havinga recess on its. outer side at a point adjacent the disk witha relatively sharp edge extendingin substantially the same direction asthe axis of the valve at each recess, and projecting toward the edgeoffthe opening, said recess and edge co-operating to prevent sand in theslush from eroding the face of the valve seat. 2. In a slush valve for aslush pump for pumping Water carrying mud and sand, the combination of avalve seat in theform of a 7 ring with a substantially conical hardenedseat face, and a valve closure in the form of adisk havinga'substantially conical face to come uponthe. said seat face and havinga plurality of guide wings extending from the inner face of the diskinto the opening of the ring, each. guide wing havinga guide face.

disposed towardits end-for engaging the edge oftheIopeningto guide thevalve, and having a recess on its outer sideadjacent the for pumpingwater carrying mud and sand,

the combination of a ring-shaped seat having two intersecting, conical,hardened seat faces so thatfthesea for the valve is of V cross secg.tion, and a valve closure in the form of a disk having conical seatfaces on its under side to "seat upon the said" conical seat faces ofthevalve seat, said valve closure having a plurality of guide wingsextending fronrthe inner face of the disk into the opening of thering-shaped seat, each guide wing having a guide face at its outer endfor engaging the side of the opening through the valve seat to guide thevalve and having a'recess onits outer side adjacent the under side; ofthe disk with arelat-ively sharp edgeat-said recess located inwardlytoward the axis of the valve so as to leave a space between the edge andthe inner face ofthe seat, said edge projecting toward the said seatfaces and ex tending in substantially the same direction as the axis ofthe valve, said recessand said relatively sharp edge cooperating toprevent the sand in the slush from eroding the said 7 seat faces. I a r4. In a slush valve for a slush pump for pumping water' carrying mud andsand, the combination of a member having a valve opening with a hardenedannular seat at the opening, and a valve closure in the form of a diskhaving a face to come upon thesseat, e

said valve closure having a plurality of guide wings extending from theface of the having a guide face disposed toward'the end of the wingforengaging the edgeof'the opening to guide the valve disk, and havingdisk into the said opening, each guide wing a relatively sharp edgeadjacent to the disk and located inwardly toward the axis of the valveso as to leave a space between the edge and the inner face of the seat,saidedge projecting toward'the edge of the opening and extending insubstantially the same direction as the axis of the valve, and operatingto re ducethe elfectof erosion by sand on the-face of the valve seat ata point opposite the wing. Signed at Los Nietos, Calif, this 18th day ofJanuary,.1929.. i

ERNEST 'L oY-n nit-son,

